Very largest electrical distributors in this year’s 2017 Top 200 listing

Here’s your opportunity to learn more about the very largest electrical distributors in this year’s 2017 Top 200 listing.

Electrical Wholesaling’s editors thought our readers might be interested in some of the stories behind the numbers in this year’s Top 200 listing, so we are publishing capsule summaries of what’s happening with some of the largest of the Top 200 distributors. We based these reports on news articles we published on these firms over the past 12 months. company websites and other public information sources.Writing up capsules on all 200 companies on this listing would take more than 30 pages of the magazine, but we thought you might enjoy some additional information on the some of the largest distributors in North America. Check out www.ewweb.com for additional profiles and links.

1. SONEPAR

U.S. Headquarters: Charleston, SC Parent: Sonepar SA, Paris, France Senior Executive: Halsey Cook, United States; Marie Christine Coisne-Roquette, Worldwide 2016 Sales: $9.6 billion (North America); $21.25 billion worldwide Locations: 988 (North America); 2,800 (Worldwide) Employees: 43,000 (Worldwide) By Sonepar’s standards it was a quiet year on the acquisition front with only one deal in the United States, the purchase of the Boston metropolitan area’s Beacon Electrical Sales & Supply, a 20-employee distributor with approximately $21 million in sales. Sonepar also acquired Sacchi, one of Italy’s largest electrical distributors. According to a press release, the acquisition will double the size of the company’s business in Italy (Europe’s third biggest market) and will strengthen its position in Lombardy, the country’s number-one industrial market. In other news at the company, Dave Gabriel, formerly president of Sonepar’s North America region, became COO and now oversees operations in all countries except the USA, France and the Central Europe Area, which will directly report to the future CEO.

2. WESCO INTERNATIONAL INC

Headquarters: Pittsburgh, PA Senior executive: John Engel 2016 sales: $7.03 billion (North America); $7.35 billion (Worldwide) Locations: 475 branches (North America); 500 (Worldwide) Employees: 8,400 (North America);9,000 (Worldwide) Recent stock price: $60.80 WESCO made a nice-sized acquisition with its purchase last year of Atlanta Electrical Distributors, one of the larger independents in the Atlanta metro. This purchase followed previous acquisitions of two Top 200 distributors — Hill Country Electric Supply, Austin, TX; Needham Electric Supply, Canton, MA; and Aelux Lumigent, Glenside, PA, a specialist in lighting retrofits that has completed more than 1,000 lighting upgrades across a broad range of commercial properties. The company expects growth of 1% to 4% in what it says is a tough pricing environment. In remarks made at the release of the company’s 1Q 2017 financial results John Engel said, “Our first-quarter results were in line with our expectations and the outlook we provided in January. Our sales results reflect improving momentum in our business, driven by a return to growth in industrial and in Canada. Operating margin was also in line with our expectations, as we continue to execute our cost management and supply chain initiatives in a stillchallenging and demand-constrained pricing environment.” The company’s stock price is up 64% from a nasty dip in Jan. 2016, but still hasn’t regained its 2014 swagger when it lived above the $80 per share level.

Graybar’s acquisition of Cape Electric Supply, Cape Girardeau, MO, to bolster its industrial business along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers headlined a busy year for the company. Along with this acquisition, the company opened branches in Grand Forks, ND, and Huntsville, AL, and closed a location in Rockford, IL. The branch openings continue a trend at Graybar, which has added more branches through greenfield startups than through acquisitions over the past few years. As an employee-owned company, Graybar’s most recent 10K offers some good insight into its growth over the past few years. The company saw a 4.5% sales increase in 2016 and said in this report: “Over the last several years, we have focused on achieving profitable growth and strengthening our position in the supply chain. We have accomplished these priorities through organic growth and strategic investments in our business. Specifically, we opened new locations and expanded existing facilities to provide convenient local service to our customers. “We also enhanced our technology and service capabilities to improve efficiency and productivity. We increased the size of our sales force and invested in training and development for all of our employees. Finally, we made strategic acquisitions to broaden our reach and complement our core business. All of these efforts have enabled us, for the year ended December 31, 2016, to achieve new company records in net sales, gross margin and net income.”

4. REXEL HOLDINGS USA

Parent: Rexel SA, Paris, France Headquarters: Dallas, TX Senior executive: Brian McNally 2016 sales: $4.95 billion (North America); $21.25 billion (Worldwide) Locations: 560 (North America); 2,023 (Worldwide) Employees: 8,003 (North America); 27,309 (Worldwide) ERP system: Eclipse In addition to its 2016 acquisition of automation specialist Brohl & Appell, Sandusky, OH, Rexel moved aggressively earlier this year to build on its energy retrofit business with the news that Rexel Energy Solutions (RES), a specialized business unit of Rexel USA based in Taunton, MA, unveiled a national team of lighting and controls experts to support ESCOs (energy service companies) across the country. Since 1942, the Rexel Energy Solutions team, formerly Munro Distributing Co. Inc. (which Rexel purchased in a 2012 acquisition), has provided electrical and energy conservation solutions and support to contractors, ESCOs, and utility partners nationwide. In addition to their existing teams in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and California, they have recently added sales teams in Tennessee, Minnesota and Illinois, and additional personnel in California, New York and North Carolina. Rexel has started the year with a slight increase in sales, according to a statement by CEO Patrick Berard about the company’s 1Q 2017 financial results. “Rexel’s first-quarter performance was in line with our expectations,” said Berard. “Two elements are to be noted in our past quarter’s performance: For the first time in several quarters, we posted organic sales growth on a constant and same-day basis with a simultaneous improvement in profitability. In addition, our sales in the United States returned to growth after seven consecutive quarters of organic decline on a constant and same-day basis. These results confirm that the measures we are taking to revitalize organic growth and improve profitability are starting to show results.” North America, which accounts for 36% of the company’s sales, was up +1.2% in Q1 on a constant and sameday basis. The release said this is the first quarter of growth on a constant and same-day basis for the region since Q4 2014, driven by encouraging signs of sales recovery in the United States, which accounts 79% of the region’s sales. Rexel noted that the decline in sales to the oil and gas industry had stopped in the U.S. but said that Canada, which accounts for 21% of the company’s North American region, saw a 25.7% decline in sales to the oil and gas market in 1Q 2017. The first-quarter report also said sales at Platt were up 3% in the quarter; Rexel Commercial & Industrial posted strong double-digit growth of 11.1% and that Gexpro activities were impacted by continued slowdown in the OEM segment.

5. CONSOLIDATED ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS INC. (CED)

Headquarters: Irving, TX Senior executive: Kurt Lasher 2016 sales: $4.4 billion (estimate from Forbes magazine) Locations: 500 Employees: 6,200 (estimate from Forbes magazine) CED prefers to keep a low profile, and the company has not publicized any of the acquisitions it has made over the past 60 years to become one of the five largest full-line electrical distributors in North America. The company’s most recent acquisitions were the 2015 purchases of SEFCO Electric Supply, Jackson, MS, and Electric Motor Sales & Service, Chattanooga, TN. While the Colburn family that quietly runs the company prefers to stay out of the headlines, when you get the chance to talk off the record to any of the managers for the company’s 500-plus profit centers, they are unfailingly positive about their careers with the company. One former manager recently joked with an EW editor, “CED gives you plenty of rope to run your own business successfully or to hang yourself.” When you Google CED, you can pick up some interesting nuggets about the company. A 1998 article in the Los Angeles Times said that family patriarch Richard D. Colburn, who passed away in 2004, once told a Times reporter that he preferred to stay out of the spotlight because of “a simple lesson” from his father: “Fools’ names and fools’ faces often appear in public places.” One place you do see the Colburn name is on the world-renowned Colburn School for classical music in downtown Los Angeles, which includes a conservatory and dance institute.

6. ANIXTER INC

2016 sales in electrical and utility products: $3.13 billion (Electrical & Electronic Solutions (EES) and Utility Power Solutions (UPS) only, doesn’t include Network & Security Solutions business Locations: 320 (North America) 2016 total company sales: $7.62 billion Employees: 8,900 (Worldwide) Locations: 320 (Worldwide) You better get used to seeing Anixter trucks delivering more than wire and cable now that it’s a billion-dollar player in the utility market through its 2015 acquisition of HD Supply’s Power Solutions unit. The Utility Power Solutions business unit seems to be fitting in nicely and producing strong growth, leading all Anixter business units with a +7.4% year-over-year sales increase in 1Q 2017. The company reported strong results for the first quarter of this year. “First quarter 2017 year-over-year organic sales growth of 5.6% on a per day basis was our strongest sales growth since the fourth quarter of 2014, as our business continues to benefit from synergy initiatives and a slowly recovering industrial economy,” said CEO Bob Eck in a press release. “We were pleased to deliver organic growth in all three segments and all three geographies, including 19.3% growth on an organic, per day basis in our EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) geography. “Sales in our Network & Security Solutions segment increased by 5.8%, marking 14 consecutive quarters of sales growth, while our Electrical and Electronic Solutions segment delivered 4% growth and our Utility Power Solutions segment delivered strong 7.4% growth, each yearover- year on an organic, per day basis.” Eck also said in the press release that the company’s sales increase in 1Q “reflect slowly improving economic environment and solid execution of our growth initiatives.” “As we enter the second quarter of 2017, we are cautiously optimistic that the positive momentum we experienced in the quarter will continue, as we maintain our focus on our growth initiatives which include synergistic sales and global accounts,” he said. On a sad note, last year the company lost legendary co-founder William Anixter,who passed away at age 92 on May 8, 2016. He founded the company with his brother, Alan, in 1957. In other news at the company, Anixter recently announced that William Galvin was promoted to President and COO, effective July 1, from his previous role as executive V.P. of the company’s Network and Security Solutions business unit. Galvin has been with Anixter for 29 years

7. BORDER STATES ELECTRIC

Headquarters: Fargo, ND Senior executive: Tammy Miller 2016 sales: NA Employees: 2,200 Locations: 96 ERP System: SAP Buying group: Affiliated Distributors The big news with Border States was its June 2016 blockbuster acquisition of Shealy Electrical Wholesale, West Columbia, SC, with its 350 employees in 17 locations throughout the fastgrowing Carolinas region. Shealy had been one of the 50 largest distributors on the Electrical Wholesaling Top 200 list, ranking #41 on the latest list, based on 2015 sales, with sales of over $200 million. The deal is believed to be Border States’ largest acquisition to date and extends its reach to the East Coast for the first time. Jeremy Welsand, the company’s CFO, said in his Top 200 responses that the Border States team is expecting 2017 growth of approximately 12%, due in part to renewed growth in its industrial and construction business, a recovery in the oil business, and the impact of the Shealy acquisition. In other news at the company, over the past year the company opened an additional location in Denver and closed branches in Park City, UT and Junction City, KS.

Crescent Electric Supply rejoined the acquisition game in 2016 with one deal that seems a natural fit and another that shows quite a bit of imagination. Crescent early this year bought Mesco Electrical Supply in Milford, Ohio, a fellow member of IMARK Group that adds three locations to Crescent’s depth of coverage in its core Midwest regional territory. The more surprising move came August 2016 with the purchase of online retailer Home Products Etc., including its EliteFixtures.com site, which sells lighting and plumbing fixtures as well as furniture in both the businessto-business and consumer markets. The Home Products deal serves a major strategic initiative at the company to aggressively grow its online presence. It also brings Crescent both a proven and scalable e-commerce platform and an experienced team of e-commerce specialists to build new online services. The company’s website at www.cesco.com now has a preview of its new yet-to-belaunched website design and e-commerce functionality with enhanced features for project management, specialized quotations, multi-level permissions within a customer account and streamlined quick-order capabilities.

9. CITY ELECTRIC SUPPLY CO.

City Electric Supply, based in Dallas, continues to build and fine-tune its collection of distribution branches across the United States since it passed the $1 billion mark in U.S. revenues in 2015. The company wrapped up 2016 with its seventh-straight year of double-digit growth, seeing U.S. revenues rise 12%. The company has added 20 new locations and plans to open 20 to 25 more in the coming year. Recent openings include Charlottesville, VA; Athens, GA; Sierra Vista, AZ; and Hainesport, NJ. In a roundup of the company’s results in his “Mackie Monday” blog, Thomas Hartland-Mackie provided a longer perspective, saying the company has grown 155% since its 2009-2010 fiscal year. “Over the past 12 months, we added 242 to the team and promoted 193 people to more senior roles within the organization as we continue to invest more than ever in training initiatives.” The company’s interest in training also extends beyond the CES walls. Already this year it has launched a new effort to encourage young people to join the trades. The Brighter Future Scholarship, which provides $5,000 each to five students who enroll in an electrical trade school, is a response to a shortage of labor amid growing demand, Mackie said in his blog. Highlights of the past year from the company’s in-house quarterly magazine including lighting retrofits for the Aveda Institute, a school of cosmetology and massage in Denver, and the gym at Florida Gateway College, as well as an account of how the company’s Hilton Head, SC, branch endured Hurricane Matthew.

10. W.W. GRAINGER

Grainger’s dominance as the biggest online commerce site for a wide array of industrial maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products has put it in the crosshairs of competitors seeking a piece of that market. Investor worries that such competitors might succeed have given Grainger’s stock price a beating since its first quarter earnings report in April. The company reported price reductions aimed at helping large customers consolidate purchases, which lowered margins despite an increase in sales volume in response to the pricing move, and the company lowered its estimates for the year. Investors’ interpretation of these developments as signs that Amazon and other sites were forcing a pricing battle dropped GWW’s stock price from above $200 where it has been for the past five years to below $175 at press time.

11. MAYER ELECTRIC SUPPLY CO.

Mayer Electric Supply rocks steadily along, serving customers from its 54 branches that cover the southeastern United States and a little beyond – their core territories cover markets from Richmond, VA, to Tampa, FL, to New Orleans, with outliers in Pittsburgh, Dallas and Houston. It’s the quintessential full-line electrical distributor, being a familyowned business serving electrical and datacom contractors, industrial, commercial, government and utility markets. Chairman and CEO Nancy Collat Goedecke, the third generation of the family to run Mayer Electric Supply, continues the company’s tradition of outreach to the community and the electrical industry established by her grandfather, Ben Weil, who founded the company in 1930, and her parents, Charles and Patsy Collat. The company has been quiet on the expansion front over the past year with no acquisitions or branch openings but continues to rake in performance awards from IMARK Group and Mayer’s vendors as well as community recognition for the company’s outreach efforts throughout its territories.

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